Nothing
by lurkingwhump
Summary: A painful memory resurfaces for Jane. Set sometime during the latter half of s3


A/N Some of you might know that I've been a bit irked at how easy it has seemingly been for Jane to work with Keaton after everything he put her through. Facing him and then _working with him._ At some point something must have drudged up some unpleasant memories. Here's my muse's take on it. Takes place sometime during the latter part of s3.

Thanks again to my dear beta, who corrected my errors and made my drabble more coherent. You're invaluable 😊.

* * *

 **Nothing**

The team was gathered in the middle of the NYO, looking at the screens displaying information on Sergey Alexandrov, a Russian businessman, who had some dealings with Crawford. When Patterson had identified him, that had also brought Keaton out of hiding since, according to Zapata, Alexandrov was also of interest to the CIA for reasons they couldn't divulge.

"So, let me get this straight," Kurt interrupted Patterson's exposition of the travel patterns of Alexandrov and his mistress.

"He left Maria, _his wife_ , in Russia and took _his mistress_ with him to London? But why?" Kurt asked, his arms crossed, not seeing the connection.

"She was nothing to him. It was Elena he loved," Keaton put in by way of explanation.

"As I was saying.." Patterson continued and resumed her lecture.

Kurt noticed Jane shifting beside him and looked at her questioningly. He thought she looked a bit pale.

"I'll be right back," Jane whispered to him quickly as she touched his arm and headed away from the team.

* * *

As the team finished their meeting a few minutes later, there was still no sign of Jane, and Kurt was getting worried. He searched the locker room, but she wasn't there. He was just about to send her a text when he realized where she might be. He headed down the hallway to find her.

Opening the door to the hideout which Rich had revealed to Patterson, Kurt discovered Jane standing by the corner. He saw her quickly scramble to face away from the door as she noticed it opening.

"It's just me, Jane."

She cleared her throat, still facing away from him. "Are you done with the meeting?"

"Yeah, we're done. Keaton left and Reade and the others are looking into the information on Alexandrov."

As he approached, Jane turned to face him. Standing next to her now, he looked at her from head to toe, his feeling of worry only growing as he did so. She didn't look at him, but fiddled with the cuff of her jacket, almost like she was trying to distract herself.

Kurt reached out, running his hand up and down her arm in a comforting gesture. He noticed she was trembling slightly under his touch.

"What happened back there?"

"I'm fine, Kurt. I just need a minute," she said, trying to mask the tremor in her voice.

"That's not what I asked," he replied in a quiet tone, as he moved his hand from her arm to her neck and massaged the nape of it gently. Jane leaned her head forward, and breathed deeply, clearly enjoying his touch.

They stood there like that for nearly a minute before Kurt took a step closer, now fully in her personal space.

"What happened?" He tried again gently.

"It's nothing," Jane replied but still refused to meet his eyes.

Kurt moved his hand to her face, his thumb tracing her jaw. "It's something if you're shaking."

He lifted her chin carefully, so she had no choice but to look at him. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears as she lifted them to meet his. He saw vulnerability and pain in her gaze and another emotion that took him a moment longer to place. " _Fear?"_ The realization dawned on him.

The longer he gazed into her eyes, the more he could feel her pain. Something had struck a deep chord with Jane to leave her this rattled. He caressed her cheek lightly with his fingers, noticing a single tear escape under her eyelids and make its way down her other cheek as she closed her eyes.

He wished Jane would talk to him. He wanted nothing more than to take away her pain.

"Jane…," Kurt's tone was tender, careful. He was praying she wouldn't withdraw further from him.

She shifted on her feet and looked at the floor.

"What Keaton said of Alexandrov…"

Kurt saw her ball her hand into a fist, trying to voice her thoughts. He didn't say anything, but slowly rubbed his hand up and down her arm again, hoping the gesture would offer her some comfort.

"It….It was almost exactly what he kept telling me when I was…. _there,"_ she said in a small voice, not needing to say what _there_ was. Kurt knew, better than he would ever have wanted. He saw her lower lip quiver slightly, as she whispered the next words and her voice broke.

" _You were nothing to him. It was Taylor he loved."_

The words were like a stab to his heart. He pulled Jane to his chest, hugging her tightly as she buried her face into the crook of his neck.

"Jane, no. No," he whispered emphatically.

Anger bubbled inside Kurt, as he felt Jane's shoulders shaking in his embrace, her tears landing on his skin. He wanted to strangle Keaton for what he had done and now he hoped he had done it earlier, when he'd had that chance. Not only did Keaton hurt her physically, but emotionally too. The physical wounds had long since healed, but the emotional ones, they were clearly still there. No wonder Jane had been so combative when they had found her. Keaton had manipulated and played on her doubts, crushing what emotional anchors she might have had. And his own actions earlier had contributed to that. He had never listened to her side of the story, blinded by his anger then. But that had changed. They had rebuilt that trust and fallen in love. And against all his doubts, she had said _yes_ and married him. But even after so many years, the events of the past had come back to haunt them.

Jane wrapped her arms around him, her words muffled against his shirt. "Kurt, he said-"

"Shh." He nuzzled her tenderly, pressing his lips to her cheek. "I won't let him hurt you again." He rocked them slowly in place, feeling Jane gradually relax in his embrace as her tears stopped. Pulling back, he gazed lovingly at her.

He caressed her cheek and smiled. "It's you I loved, who I _love._ Thinking you might have been Taylor maybe lowered my guard, but it's _you_ I fell in love with….your strength, your compassion, your heart. And _nothing_ Keaton says will ever change that."

She gave him a tiny smile and mirrored his gesture, bringing her hand to his cheek. "Thank you."

Kurt pulled her back against him gently, placing a kiss in her hair as she placed her cheek against his chest.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," he murmured softly, as his arm snaked around her waist and squeezed her ever deeper into his arms.


End file.
